ARLINGTON, Texas - Monday night's NCAA championship game at AT&T Stadium sets up as a matchup of over-achieving seedlings. If you didn't know the history you'd say it was nice to see the "little guys" finally breaking through the plexiglass backboard. This No. 15 combination platter is the highest total number to play for the title since the NCAA started seeding in 1979. NCAA BRACKET: Track how UConn and Kentucky got to the final Poor old No. 7 Connecticut hasn't won an NCAA title since 2011 and luckless No 8 Kentucky hasn't hoisted a banner since 2012.

Saturday's Santa Anita Derby is an eight-horse race, but the kind of buzz that has accompanied California Chrome, ever since he blew the field away in the March 8 San Felipe, makes it difficult for the other contenders to get any attention. California Chrome not only runs like the wind -- he has won his last three races by a total of 19 lengths -- but he and his connections present several stories that are hard to ignore. There is much talk that he would become only the fourth-ever Cal-bred to do so if he won the Kentucky Derby.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Last week, Kentucky guard Andrew Harrison told a crowd of reporters that nobody could tell his twin brother Aaron that he wasn't the best. Aaron Harrison proved it again. For a third consecutive NCAA tournament game, the guard from Texas hit a game-deciding three-pointer. It was his only long-range attempt of the game. Only six seconds remained. He had taken a pass from his brother standing near the sideline about 27 feet from the basket. But the shot went in. Of course it did. Kentucky is advancing to the NCAA championship game after defeating Wisconsin, 74-73, in the Final Four on Saturday night.

PEARL, Miss. - Sen. Thad Cochran is a portrait of the genteel Southern politician, known for three-piece suits, a shock of white hair and shoveling billions of government dollars back to his impoverished home state to repair levees, construct research facilities at Ole Miss and bolster catfish farms. That spending prowess once reaped rewards for the Mississippi senator, with buildings bearing his name, easy reelection campaigns and so much public affection that he's known here simply as "Thad.

The Kentucky Wildcats, eighth seed, advanced to the NCAA tournament's final with a 74-73 win over the No. 2 seed Wisconsin Badgers on an Aaron Harrison game-winning three-pointer with 5.7 seconds left on the clock. Earlier in the day, Coach Kevin Ollie's Connecticut Huskies, seventh seed, took out Florida Gators, the only remaining top seed in the tournament. Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant picked Kentucky to win it all, announcing his prediction on Twitter on March 28, before the Wildcats' upset of the Louisville Cardinals (4th)

ARLINGTON, Texas - Well everyone had it wrong - you, me, the postman and the NCAA selection committee. All that teeth-gnashing over tournament seeding has produced an NCAA championship game between a No. 7 and No. 8. Let's hear it for a collective No. 15! Monday night, though, Connecticut and Kentucky will be playing for the only number that counts No.1. No. 8 Kentucky dramatically capped Saturday night with a 74-73 victory over No. 2 Wisconsin in the second NCAA semifinal game before a Final Four record crowd of 79,444 fans at AT&T Stadium.

A look at the NCAA tournament semifinal between the second-seeded Wisconsin Badgers (30-7) and eighth-seeded Kentucky Wildcats (28-10). When: Today, 5:49 p.m. TV: TBS Breakdown: Wisconsin is making its fourth Final Four appearance but first since 2000. The Badgers defeated American, Oregon, Baylor and Arizona to reach this year's final weekend. Once known primarily for defense, Wisconsin's "swing" offense has evolved. The Badgers can play multiple tempos and have won games scoring as few as 48 points (Virginia)

John Calipari waited until he heard the question and quickly set the record straight when asked about his abilities as a recruiter. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute," the Kentucky coach said. "When I was at UMass, we had one McDonald's All-American, Donta Bright. When I was at Memphis, we may have had three over my years there. We weren't getting top-50 players at UMass. We were winning. We were a terrific team. I had to coach guys four years. " This is not the first time in this tournament, or over the years at Kentucky, that Calipari has pointed out he has built programs differently and won. But the Calipari everyone knows at Kentucky has become synonymous with one-and-done freshmen, five-star recruits who bolt to the NBA after one season.

The Kentucky Wildcats (8th seed), Wisconsin Badgers (2nd), Florida Gators (1st) and Connecticut Huskies (7th) survived the weekend to advance to the NCAA's college basketball tournament's Final Four. Kentucky's Julius Randle is the lone top lottery prospect left in play, after Aaron Gordon and the Arizona Wildcats fell to Wisconsin on Saturday. Randle, a 19-year old, 6-foot-9 power forward, may have solidified as a top-four selection in June's NBA draft. Other prospects at the top of the draft include Kansas' Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, along with Duke's Jabari Parker.

Three referees and a technician huddled at the scorer's table late Sunday afternoon and determined, after a lengthy review, that next week's Final Four in North Texas was set. Utilizing information culled from hundreds of cameras set up at games around the country over two weeks, the NCAA confirmed the schools moving on as Florida, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Kentucky. The NCAA also announced the MVEI (most valuable electronic instrument) of the Elite Eight was the replay monitor.